Is Martial Arts Sexist?
In episode Whistlekick Episode 515, Jeremy asked the question “Is Martial Arts Inherently Sexist?”
As I listened, my thoughts raced excitedly. I love a good debate, and nothing makes me happier than considering a weighty issue. I’m a lawyer by profession, and I immediately put the question on trial with prosecutorial zeal, cross-examining it like a hostile witness. I may struggle in physical sparring and only have two and a half years of Krav Maga training, but research and rhetoric is my game!
My immediate thought was that of course, martial arts are not inherently sexist. It’s not the art that is the problem, it’s the practitioners. Surely, martial arts was entirely neutral and only concerned with effective combat. Combat didn’t care what gender you were, it cared how much keister you could kick.
Then I considered that much of martial arts was mostly created by men, with men in mind. Wouldn’t that have a big effect on how the art was practiced and put women at a disadvantage?
Of course, nothing happens in a vacuum. Martial arts are a reflection of the society it comes from, so we have to look beyond the school for the answer. There are so many social constructs that make martial arts less welcoming to women. We have gender roles that start at birth, as well as the reality that women negotiate avoiding violence in their daily lives and might not want to add violence in their leisure time. That had to play a factor as well.
Do We Look at Biology?
However, blaming society felt like a cop-out. It didn’t address that physiologically, most men and women differ. In combat, size and strength matters, and evolution has given a lot of advantages to men. That’s not society’s fault, that’s just biology. Maybe women’s genetic value in reproduction makes us less likely to engage in activities that could reduce population count, while men were more expendable?
So instead of endless staring into space, I am picking up my pen (well, my keyboard) and decided to start researching and writing. I’m excited to begin exploring this topic through a multi-part series, discussing the nature and nurture of why women aren’t better represented in martial arts and try to find ways for these issues to be addressed. As a woman, I know finding Krav Maga was one of the best things to ever happen to me, and I also know women would benefit enormously from learning how to defend themselves.
After a lot of thinking, I put together the top ten reasons I believe women aren’t more highly represented. There are likely a lot more. This is only my list from my own very limited experience and from discussions with friends of mine. I also don’t want this to be seen as a critique of my own home gym, of which I have the utmost respect and gratitude.
I’ll be exploring each reason in detail in the next posts, with data and interviews, but here they are in brief.
The Ten Reasons:
One: Self-defense education towards women is sexist and structured in short-term seminars, instead of long term training. Women are taught “3 steps to avoid getting raped” instead of being steered towards just becoming a martial artist.
Two: Unlike men, women are often socialized from their earliest age to avoid the martial aspect. Women are trained to be peacemakers, which makes switching to a more martial style very difficult.
Three: Women face enormous violence in their daily lives and training in martial arts can be intensely triggering.
Four: Toxic macho and sexist mat culture can make women not really want to be a part of the atmosphere.
Five: The escalation of toxic mat culture to sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior, especially when women are no longer sure if the contact was innocent or not.
Six: Women in martial arts often face backlash from their social groups. Friends have been mocked as being unfeminine or been told that it’s not real martial arts.
Seven: Yes, there are biological differences between men and women, and that matters more than people want to admit. It’s not sexist to say it. But how much does it matter in reality?
Eight: If a gym starts as an all-male environment, and is designed by males, for males (as is the system) it will remain a mostly male environment because women don’t see themselves represented. Many martial arts environments still feel extremely male. It’s a self-perpetuating cycle.
Nine: The ordinary human fears have of failing. Women don’t want to get involved in a sport where they feel they will always be behind men and might get bruised up in the process.
Ten: We haven’t seen the changes yet, and in the future, martial arts will be practiced by more women. Women today are changing the mat environment.
So What’s Next?
In the end, we’re all on the same page. We all want to make the world of martial arts accessible for as many people as possible, and I hope this discussion helps. Leave a comment below, I’m interested in hearing the stories of those with more experience. I hope this can be a rich and useful discussion.
Editor’s note: if you enjoyed this article, check out “Self-Defense Monologue of a Female Martial Artist“
Off the mat, Elke is a real estate attorney and blogger, with degrees in urban planning, law, and history. She has worked in both the non-profit and profit sectors, has been awarded numerous fellowships, including serving as the Biodiversity Fellow at the Israeli Ministry of Environmental Protection. She’s proud to serve on the Board of Debate for Peace, which she insists counts as verbal sparring practice.
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This is an amazing idea. I can’t wait to read your follow-up posts!
Thank you so much, I’m submitting the next article tonight!
Great article! I agree with all of your points. It’s extremely frustrating. I’d add one more. Women are also part of the problem.
I was training krav for a while. My school was looking for assistants. I got lucky and was hired. The owners were initially nice and supportive. I was happy to have a dream job.
Soon it became unbearable. The co-owners, a husband and wife team, became hostile towards me. I realized that all the previous female instructors had left. The wife of one of the male instructors started showing up more frequently. She looked at me in an odd way and I learned she was best friends with the female co-owner.
During one class, I heard a mother of one student say that she saw “young females out there stealing husbands.” As the only female instructor, it sounded like she was talking about me.
Eventually I was fired, for no reason. The owner mumbled that it wasn’t easy having to go home and argue with his wife. He gave me no other reason for letting me go.
Looking back, leaving that job was definitely a blessing. Now I’m an instructor at a TKD school, working with strong female instructors and with fierce little girls.
I’d love to talk to you more about your experience, that sounds so degrading and I’m so sorry you had to go through that, it’s their loss.
It’s really sad, the Queen Bee effect, where women tear each other down, instead of supporting each other. I actually made a choice today not to be catty to someone today, because of your comment and choose the higher path.
Thanks for this – and I look forward to more articles. My 12-year-old daughter and I started taking GongKwon Yusul this past year, and we are still going strong (ready to test for our orange belts!).
We are fortunate in that our master and school owner is a woman – many of the issues you mention above do not exist for us. We have adults, kids, men, and women in our classes and it works out great. No egos getting in the way or anything like that. The kids get to work with each other and people larger than they are in a safe environment but with real-world applicability. And the adults learn from the kids, the kids learn from the adults, everyone learns from everyone, which is how it should be. The emphasis is always on long-term study and a lifestyle, which is how martial arts should be studied.
I see that this article is 3 years old so not sure why seeing now but figured I’d comment now since seeing..
Agree!
I am pretty much the only woman in the room in our class but it is a small group. What works for the guys may not always work for me so it is alot more work to learn technique over strength but i love it and will continue to do martial arts. I have meet so many people that i would not have having not started in this! It has opened a new world! Problem is getting more woman friends to do it is rare and i sometimes feel i miss out on being part of a woman type bootcamp/yoga group. But cannot give this up since i am constantly learning and realizing how much more there is to learn!!
I sometimes feel intimidated when i want to go to a certain class or seminar where i may be the only woman in the room but i want to be there to see and learn! Hoping to be taken seriously for trying!
We need more women in the room!!
Thanks for writing this!